COTTAGE GARDENS. 



COTTAGE GARDENS. 



wide, or more if it is to be made a drying 

 ground. At the end of this main walk an 

 arbour may be formed of the common white 

 clematis or Traveller's Joy (Clematis vit- 

 alba), of the white jasmine (Jasminum 

 officinale}, or yellow winter - flowering 

 jasmine (Jasminum nudifloruni) : these are 

 suitable for the purpose, being of dense 

 growth and habit, and very cheap. On 

 each side of the arbour flowers or herbs may 

 be grown. On the sunny sides of the house 

 let a vine, apricot, peach, or nectarine be 

 planted, seeing that a proper station is pre- 

 pared for them. If there is a wall having 

 a southern aspect, let it be devoted to some 

 of these also ; if not required for home use, 

 they are saleable. 



Preparation of Manures. In the portion 

 of ground devoted to kitchen crops, follow 

 out a system of rotation cropping, and use 

 a little cau tion in the application of manures ; 

 which, if unprepared by time and the action 

 of the weather, or consisting of rank-smell- 

 ing dung, breed no end of insects, which 

 do injury to the crops. In preparing 

 manures which, however, are essential 

 for maintaining the fertility of the soil 

 let it be remembered that all animal and 

 vegetable refuse will be useful, when pro- 

 perly mixed. The droppings of cattle, 

 sheep, pigs, and all house-sewage, should 

 be collected and saved, and mixed with 

 rather more than the same quantity of 

 garden soil ; the application of a little 

 quicklime will remove any offensive smell. 

 Let the offal, dung, &c., be laid in layers, 

 about nine inches thick, mixed with similar 

 layers of garden soil and quicklime, remain- 

 ing so till a good heap has accumulated, 

 when it should be turned over and mixed 

 thoroughly before dressing the ground 

 with it. Applied in this way, it is not so 

 likely to breed insects, and is more effi- 

 cacious. 



House and Flower Garden. We can now 

 apply what has been said to a small garden 



attached to a cottage or villa residence, and 

 we will take as our typical garden a rec- 

 tangular piece of ground, measuring about 

 40 yards one way and 20 the other, this 

 being the form that generally prevails in 

 estates parcelled out in lots as building 

 ground. We will suppose that, as in the 

 plan shown in the accompanying diagram, 

 the length of the garden lies east and west, 

 and the breadth of it north and south. 

 By such a disposition, we are enabled to 

 obtain a good stretch of south wall. In 

 this, as in former plans, A indicates the 

 house, placed at the eastern end of the 

 ground, or, in other words, very nearly in 

 the north-east corner. In this position the 

 house itself acts as a protection to a great 

 part of the garden against north-easterly 

 winds. B is a small court, well out of the 

 way, reached from the back of the house, 

 and appropriated to the dustbin and offices 

 that it is desirable to keep out of sight. A 

 door at D a trellised door is sufficient- 

 gives access to a path which enters the 

 main path near E, the entrance from the 

 roadway. The court D is masked by 

 creepers and shrubs, disposed along a 

 border, F, whose frontage is devoted 

 to flowers that will grow in the shade. A 

 piece of trellis divides the court C from the 

 garden, which is entered from c by the gate 

 G. A conservatory on the west side of the 

 house is shown at H, and beds before the 

 conservatory and house at K, K, K. Before 

 the house is a broad gravel path, leading in 

 a straight line from the entrance, E, to the 

 main part of the garden. These and all 

 the other paths are so distinct that no 

 letters are required to distinguish them. 

 Immediately in front of the house is a grass 

 plot, L, nearly semicircular, with an orna- 

 mental tree at M. Surrounding this is a 

 broad border, N, planted at the back with 

 shrubs, in front of which are flowers. A 

 dwarf wall may separate the shrubbery from 

 the kitchen garden on the west side, and on 



